A few years ago, there was a young
man named Bryan who went to
university. He didn’t have enough
money to live in the campus
accomodation, so he had to rent an
apartment on his own in the city.
After he had been living there alone
for a while, he began to notice some
strange things happening. Often, when
he came back from college, the
curtains in his bedroom would be
drawn, when he distinctly
remembered having left them open
when he left that morning. At other
times, some of his belongings seemed
to have been moved and other
posessions were nowhere to be found.
These strange occurrances started to
creep Bryan out, so the young man
decided to talk to his friends, Trisha
and Alex, about the situation. They
met him at a local diner and, over
coffee, he told them all about the
strange things he had noticed.
“Maybe I’m just being paranoid”, said
Bryan. “But I just get the sneaking
suspicion that someone is breaking
into my apartment during the day,
while I’m at university and…”
“And what?”, interrupted Alex.
“Rearranging your curtains and
moving your stuff around? Who in
their right mind would bother doing
that?”
“It sounds crazy, but you might have a
stalker”, said Trisha. “It’s a possibility.
If it’s true, I think the best thing to do
is contact the police”.
“What can the police do?”, asked Alex.
“They’re not going to spend their time
keeping your apartment under
surveillance. Besides, there’s no
damage to any of your things. There’s
no sign of a break-in. In short, there’s
no evidence.”
“So what options then?”, pleaded
Bryan. “I can’t just do nothing.”
“I know how you can put your mind at
ease”, said Trisha. “It’s easy. Just get a
video camera, set it up in your
bedroom and leave it running when
you go to college. If you really do have
a stalker, you can show the tape to the
police as evidence.”
“You know, that’s a great idea”, said
Bryan.
“And if you’re really just paranoid
and crazy, you can show the tape to
your psychiatrist”, joked Alex.
That night, Bryan borrowed Trisha’s
video camera and brought it home.
The very next morning, he hid it
discreetly under some folders on his
desk. Before he went to college, he
pressed the record button and left the
running.
During the day, while he sat taking
notes in lectures, the young man
forgot all about the video camera. It
was not until he arrived home and
went into his bedroom that he
remembered his plan.
Taking the video camera out of its
hiding place, he pressed the stop
button. Then he took out his mobile
phone and called his friend.
“Hey, Trisha”, he said. “I just got
home. I’m going to watch the video.”
“Cool”, said Trisha. “Don’t hang up.
Tell me if you see anything.”
He pressed play and watched the
recording on the video camera’s tiny
screen. He saw himself leaving for
university in the morning and closing
the bedroom door. Then, there was
nothing. He pressed fast forward and
scanned through the video. The room
was empty.
“Still nothing”, he said.
“I can wait”, replied Trisha. “Anyway,
there’s nothing worth watching on TV
at the moment”.
“OMG!”, cried Bryan as he pressed
play on the camera.
“What? What?”, Trisha begged
excitedly.
“The door’s opening!”, said Bryan.
“It’s a woman…”
“What’s she doing?”, asked Trisha.
“Just standing there… Closing the
door… Walking around…”
“OMG! SO weird! What does she look
like?”
“Can’t see her face… Long, black,
stringy hair… Tattered dress…”
“Do you know her?”
“No, don’t recognize her at all… She’s
carrying a knife… A big kitchen
knife… She’s going through my trash…
Now, she’s picking up my clothes and
sniffing them.”
“Ugh! Gross! What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s going over to the closet… She
just got into the closet.”
“Fast Forward and see if she does
anything else.”
He scanned through the video for a
while, but the room was empty.
“You know what this means”, said
Bryan. “I have the evidence now. I can
go to the police and they’ll take me
seriously.”
“I know”, said Trisha. “They’ll have
to”.
“Alex is totally going to freak when he
sees this”.
“No doubt. He didn’t believe you, but I
did.”
“I know. You’re a good friend… OMG!”
“What? What?”
Bryan pressed play again.
“The door’s opening again”, said
Bryan.
“Who is it?”, asked Trisha.
“Oh, it’s OK”, said Bryan. “It’s just me
coming home from college.”
He watched himself on the screen,
shutting off the camera.
“Let’s go to the police now”, said
Trisha. “I’ll go with you. We can show
them the tape.”
“OK. I’ll meet you at the diner in 15
minutes”, said Bryan as he grabbed
the video camera.
“OK… Wait a minute”, said Trisha.
“You said she got into the closet. Did
she ever leave? Bryan, did she ever get
out of the closet?”
A chill ran down Bryan’s spine.
Behind him, he heard the closet door
creak open.
“Bryan! Get out of there!”, screamed
Trisha, but it was too late. The phone
went dead. When she tried to call him
again, there was no answer.
Later that evening, the police found
the body of the 18-year old college
student lying in a pool of blood. He
had been stabbed 21 times. The video
camera was clutched in his cold, dead
hands. When the police examined the
camera, they discovered that the
memory card was missing.
No trace of the woman was ever
found.
..
..
..
..
..
Right now, she could be hiding in your
closet.
